Speedlight recommendation for Nikon d5200

daimbert

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Hello everyone,

Very recently brought a new camera, the nikon D5200. For my needs it is awesome. I am mainly using the camera to take photos of my kid, my students, and when I go to museums. Unfortunately, the one thing I have noticed is the fact that I really need to lower my shutter speed, open up my aperture, and raise my iso way to high with 1 to 2 stop of exposure compensation to get the right exposure. As a result I am getting a lot of grain. I could buy another lens to replace my kit lens, 15mm - 55mm, like a 35mm but I think I will have the same issues. So for my needs, I think I need to purchase a flash unit first before a new lens. I know Nikon makes excellent speed lights like the sb700 or sb900 but I cannot justify spending that amount of money without asking everyone if there are any good alternative that work well for my needs but will save me some money. I know yonguno makes some speedlight but I have been reading through amazon and apparently several people have been having issues with it syncing with their d5200.

Any advice, recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
 
I used to always recommend the Nikon SB910, as it has done wonders for my own photography.

No longer however, because I am still the only one that I have read in the past 6 months who was actually recommending that someone spend upwards of $500 for something as simple as a speedlight.

I now recommend the cheapest cheapie you can find. A used one, preferably.

A light is a light is a light.

Sorry about wasting your bandwidth with this rant.
 
Hello everyone,

Very recently brought a new camera, the nikon D5200. For my needs it is awesome. I am mainly using the camera to take photos of my kid, my students, and when I go to museums. Unfortunately, the one thing I have noticed is the fact that I really need to lower my shutter speed, open up my aperture, and raise my iso way to high with 1 to 2 stop of exposure compensation to get the right exposure. As a result I am getting a lot of grain. I could buy another lens to replace my kit lens, 15mm - 55mm, like a 35mm but I think I will have the same issues. So for my needs, I think I need to purchase a flash unit first before a new lens. I know Nikon makes excellent speed lights like the sb700 or sb900 but I cannot justify spending that amount of money without asking everyone if there are any good alternative that work well for my needs but will save me some money. I know yonguno makes some speedlight but I have been reading through amazon and apparently several people have been having issues with it syncing with their d5200.

Any advice, recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Well the yongnuo 565 EX I have works like a charm - all you have to do is make sure both the camera and the flash are shut off to start with, mount the flash to the camera, then turn the flash on first. Once the flash is powered up and in TTL mode, turn the camera on. The camera will find the flash every time, never any problems as long as you power up the flash before you power up the camera. When your ready to take the flash off, again just make sure you power down both before you remove them to avoid damaging your hot shoe.
 
I know yonguno makes some speedlight but I have been reading through amazon and apparently several people have been having issues with it syncing with their d5200.

Any advice, recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

user error.

I have no problems recommending the YN568EX as an alternative to the SB700. If you dont need TTL, then I'd choose any of their others.
 
The 35mm f/1.8 G AF-S DX lens for $199 WILL admit more light by a significant margin. Nikon SB 600 or SB 700 are the flashes I would suggest, but this board has lots of people who like Chinese-made cheapies.
 
I would say the SB-910 is a pretty complex speedlight instead of calling it a simple speedlight.

A simple speedlight has no TTL auto/semi-auto, motorized zoom head, or off camera flash control capabilities.

I will agree that for the power output a SB-910 can deliver $500 seems to be less than a good value.

The Yongnuo flash units are indeed inexpensive and give pretty good performance for their price, but they won't hold up to the kind of use Nikon's speedlights can take in stride.
Warranty issues may be an area of concern.
But, being the Yongnuo flash units are inexpensive, many will be willing to buy more of them over time than outlay the cost of 1 camera makers flash unit.
 
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The 35mm f/1.8 G AF-S DX lens for $199 WILL admit more light by a significant margin. Nikon SB 600 or SB 700 are the flashes I would suggest, but this board has lots of people who like Chinese-made cheapies.

Derrel, I'm surprised at you. Look at all the Chinese have done for modern society. Umm.. hmm.. well.. umm.. They gave us Jackie Chan! See, there you go. Jackie Chan - Lol. So yes, I bought a cheap mass produced Chinese model, but only because for whatever reason the Serbo-croation technological geniuses that brought us the Yugo haven't deigned to focus their vast technological skills on producing an external flash unit.

Seriously though, I don't really use a flash that often - and for me it's pretty hard to justify spending $500 and up on a flash, especially when I consider I didn't even spend that much on my camera body - lol. Granted, I know the SB's would last for years and years but really for as little as I use a flash it was really just more than I wanted to invest at this juncture. Later on down the road I might reconsider and go with a more expensive unit, especially if I start using it a lot more, but for now the 565 Ex is getting the job done so I'm happy with it. If I shot professionally I'd probably consider a more expensive flash a really good investment - but really for as little use as I get out of a flash it just really isn't worth spending that kind of scratch on for me at least.

Oh and hey.. what about that wall? You have to admit, that is a big arse wall.. lol
 
Thanks for the advice. Got super luck and got a SB 700 for $220 bucks so went ahead a splurged. What a difference in quality of the photos just by adding a flash.

The one question I have, which I hope someone can help with, is when the flash is on and on tll how do I ignore the light meter of the camera or do I still try to adjust exposure using the in camera light meter and meter to center? The reason I ask, is often times the light meter is saying I am two stops of light underexposed, I take a picture with the flash and it comes out very good. Does the pre-flash from the actual flash unit know that I am underexposed and adjust?
 
I say go fer broke and get the 910. If you decide to sell, you'll get a decent chunk of it back if you keep it in good shape.
 

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